Lyrasis, a mission-driven, community-led nonprofit serving libraries, museums and research communities, is pleased to announce the appointment of John Wilkin as the organization’s new CEO. He will begin the role effective December 1, 2022.
Wilkin, who is currently Dean of Libraries and University Librarian at the University of Illinois, brings deep experience in building community-driven programs with a focus on increasing access to knowledge, a core tenet of the Lyrasis mission. Wilkin played a key role in the creation of HathiTrust, a nonprofit collaborative digital library that preserves and provides access to 17+ million digitized items, serving as its first Executive Director. He has long been an advocate for open source and open access initiatives, developing pioneering digital library systems and spearheading open access to content such as Making of America. Wilkin was the recipient of the 2011 LITA/Library Hi Tech award for Outstanding Communication in Library and Information Technology and the 2019 Hugh Atkinson Memorial Award.
Evviva Weinraub Lajoie, Chair of the Lyrasis Board of Trustees and Vice Provost for University Libraries at the University at Buffalo, says, “Lyrasis is a unique organization in that it is home to multiple technologies, services and communities, ranging from critical content licensing work to open source software. We wanted a leader with a clear vision to advance and unify this wide array of programs in a way that will support the various parts of the Lyrasis community, including public libraries, museums and special libraries, academic and research libraries, archives, and other collections-holding institutions. Through his successful and impactful community-driven work, his tenure in the library space, and his deep leadership experience, including as Provost for the University of Illinois, John Wilkin is the ideal candidate to bring about meaningful change for Lyrasis and the institutions we serve. We are excited about the future of Lyrasis under John’s leadership and are looking forward to supporting John, the Lyrasis staff and our partners and members in this next chapter.”
“Throughout my entire career, I worked to promulgate technologies, projects and initiatives that support libraries and other collections-holding institutions in their mission of making knowledge more accessible. To achieve that, I believe collaboration and shared services can change the scale at which libraries, archives and research professionals work. Lyrasis is uniquely positioned to create trusted and transformative technologies and services for the entire field,” says Wilkin of his new role. “My goal is to create collective strength, both within Lyrasis and among our wider community, through innovative, inclusive and trust-driven leadership.”
The Lyrasis Board of Trustees conducted a rigorous 6-month search, including Lyrasis staff and external stakeholders in the process. John will begin his role on December 1, 2022, with transition support from Erin Tripp, current Interim Lyrasis CEO.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
